Ohio's Hands-Off Assisted Living Approach Leaves the Elderly at Risk

An assisted living facility, alternative to nursing homes has become a
multibillion-dollar industry involving about 750,000 American seniors.
These facilities are meant to provide housing and meals to elderly people,
those who cannot live on their own any longer. Deadly consequences can
occur if they are not appropriately supervised. Did you know that in the
State law in Ohio, it is not require for the Ohio Department of Health
to be alerted by an assisted living facility when a resident dies under
questionable circumstances?

According to an article posted in pbs.org, workers in an assisted living
facility near Cleveland left 82-year-old Vincenzina Pontoni to drown while
she was bathing. Unaware of how Pontoni died, the Department of Health
was notified by an investigating reporter for Frontline and ProPublica.
A department spokeswoman, Tessie Pollock said "it did not appear
that any regulation had been violated by the Cleveland Facility".
Most states set a low entry bar for facility workers, such as not requiring
licensed nurses or staff members. It is also stated that these facilities
receive relatively less outside monitoring, compared to nursing homes.
Most states impose fines for violation of safety standards. Former governor
of Kansas, Mark Parkinson, who is now the president of National Center
for Assisted Living states that "The issue becomes at what level
do you regulate it? And our position has been that it's better to
do it at the state level".

This quality of state regulation for safeguarding seniors in assisted living
has great impacted outcomes. If you or someone has been unsupervised or
neglected in some way, please contact our law firm.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

x

⚠

Your browser is out of date. To get the full experience of this website,
please update to most recent version.